My copy of the Aeon Station record arrived yesterday. It is very, very good and makes me feel very sad. In other words, it is exactly what I’d hoped for.
Category: Music
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My favorite music of 2022
Lots of good stuff this year. Here’s a playlist: ## My very favorites Additionally, here are a few albums and singles I wanted to call special attention to. They’re presented alphabetically becasue I’ve choosen to ditch the “best of” framing I often go with; I’m not writing music criticism here, and I have no editor…
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Equations Unbalanced, Riddles Unsolved
Listening to “Pony Express Record” this week, I wondered “where are the rest of the bands that did this?” Admittedly, they’re hard to find, but that led me to creating this playlist: Where post-hardcore, math and feelings meet. A mix of scenes, but admittedly DC-heavy, light on “emo for emo’s sake” if it doesn’t have…
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Dudes Rock
A playlist vaguely inspired by 10 years of Celebration Rock, meant to be played loud while drinking ice-cold cheap domestics and shouting the lyrics back at your speakers. Playlist available on Apple Music and Spotify.
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Four Of A Perfect Pair
Collecting the work of King Crimson’s classic quartet, together and apart: Belew, Bruford, Fripp and Levin. Playlist available on Apple Music and Spotify.
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Missed My Connection in Heathrow
A playlist inspired by traveling for the first time in 2+ years and the attendant disorientation/depression that follows. (no, I did not go to London! it was just a vibe!) Playlist available on Apple Music and Spotify.
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My favorite albums of 2021
Once again, I pushed myself to listen to lots of new music this year. A full six of my top ten records were by artists who are either new or new to me… seven if you count Aeon Station, who are technically a “new” band. That’s pretty good, I think! Here’s a playlist: 10. Dan…
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I’ve been listening to to The Jordan Lake …
I’ve been listening to to The Jordan Lake Sessions, Volumes 3 & 4 by The Mountain Goats a lot lately. These sets were recorded live in August of 20201, before the third wave of Covid-19 ravaged the United States, and are fabulous (as are Volumes 1 & 2, of course).
On my last listen, I was struck by this reflection from John Darnielle after “Against Pollution:”
There’s this thing, when you play a song and if it really goes someplace really cool during this horrifying pandemic, you go, “Man, what a pity it is that we can’t play that in a room full of people who are excited to be there and everybody feels safe and all that stuff!” I’ve been working a riff like this for half my life, but… Basic things life safety, when you’re young, when you’re seventeen, and you hear somebody talking about safety, you go “Oh my god, you ancient person, you five thousand year old man, talking to me about safety. What do I care?” and then in a time like this you think, “You know what is awesome? You know what is truly spectacular? Like, really worth dwelling on? Safety.”
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Best of 2020 (The Albums)
I’ve done some sort of year end, “best of” list as long as I can remember. This probably hasn’t been the “best” year of music over that span, but it certainly has been the most important, to me. We’ve all had a trying year, to put it mildly. These are the albums that helped get…
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I knew nothing at all about Ellen Siberian …
I knew nothing at all about Ellen Siberian Tiger as of two days ago, but this record got mentioned on The Key and honestly, it’s lighting my hair on fire.